Tips to Stop Smoking
by Amy Eskind
With each drag of a cigarette, a smoker breathes in 69 cancer-causing substances, raising their risk for heart disease and fatal heart attack, stroke and aneurysms. In fact, almost 500,000 people die each year from the harmful effects caused by smoking, while millions more suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which encompasses emphysema and chronic bronchitis, and literally can take your breath away.
But no matter how many years you’ve been smoking, the benefits of quitting are undeniable. “You’re never too old to quit,” says Dr. James Kiley, director of the Lung Division at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Md.
Though some lung damage may be permanent, lung function increases within three months of quitting smoking, and within nine months incidents of coughing and shortness of breath decrease. After quitting for one year, excess risk of coronary heart disease is cut by half.
Quitting, however, is not easy. Only 5 to 10 percent of attempts to quit are permanently successful. “It’s a trial to quit smoking,” says Patrick Reynolds, executive director of The Foundation for a Smokefree America, and grandson of the founder of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.
Smokers first have to fight the powerful nicotine addiction, and then the habit. “Just when the urge to smoke is dying down,” Reynolds says, “you’re out one night and someone lights up and you get this out-of-control urge to smoke.”
The chance for long-term success rises exponentially when smokers get help, including counseling, behavioral therapy and medications. Here are some tips to help you stop smoking for good:
Stay focused. Write down your reasons for quitting and keep the list with you to help you stay determined. “You have to be mentally ready,” says Rick Lamb, a respiratory therapist at the Missouri Rehabilitation Center in Mount Vernon, Mo. “That allows other tools to help you get through it. But you have to have the desire.”
Pick a quit date. “Setting a day gives it a psychological significance,” says Dr. Mark Rosen, president of the American College of Chest Physicians. The American Cancer Society recommends setting a date within the next month, giving yourself enough time to plan, but not enough time to change your mind.
Pay attention. Notice the situations that trigger you to crave a cigarette. As part of the 35-year-old SmokEnders program, smokers affix a chart to their cigarette packs to track the day and time of each cigarette. “Once people identify their own smoking profile, they can see what areas they need to work on,” says Cathy Lambert, national sales manager and a SmokEnders graduate. Learn more about the program at www.smokenders.com.
The American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking program asks smokers to note their mood at the time they smoke each cigarette. “It’s easier to knock out the ‘boredom’ cigarettes,” says Bill Blatt, manager of Tobacco Control Programs for the American Lung Association. To diminish the habit of smoking to relieve stress, the plan teaches quitters to learn to be more assertive with other people, and to exercise regularly. Learn more about the program at www.lungusa.org.
To better understand your smoking habit, take the American Cancer Society’s smoking habits quiz at www.cancer.org.
Be prepared. Plan ahead for situations that would normally trigger the need to light up. “Cravings and urges to smoke go away,” says Michael Burke, coordinator of the Nicotine Dependence Center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “If you can find ways to delay and not respond, it can help.”
“Train yourself to do other things,” says Mim Long, of Studio City, Calif., who quit her pack-and-a-half daily habit after 15 years of smoking with the help of the American Lung Association’s Freedom From Smoking program. “Plan that, ‘When I feel I need a cigarette, I’m going to walk outside’, or ‘I’m going to go to the bathroom’, or ‘I’m going to chew on a bar straw.’”
Get support. Seek support from family, friends and coworkers, especially someone who has successfully quit smoking. It can be beneficial during tough times.
Celebrate success. Reward yourself for small victories. “It reinforces your desire to quit,” Blatt says.
Consider medications. Controlled doses of the addictive chemical nicotine can prevent withdrawal symptoms while you kick the habit. Nicotine replacement patches, gums and lozenges are available over-the-counter, while inhalers and nasal sprays require a prescription. Talk to your doctor and see if these or other medications might be right for you. One medication to consider is Bupropion (Zyban), a prescription antidepressant that cuts nicotine cravings. Begin taking the drug one week before your quit date. Another medication is Varenicline Tartrate (Chantix), a new drug that reduces the physical pleasure from smoking and mitigates withdrawal symptoms. The drug maker offers a complimentary counseling program and free medication for smokers with limited incomes. Call (877) 242-6849 to learn more.
Pick up the phone. Telephone help-lines called “quitlines” offer free phone counseling and information on local resources. Call (800) 227-2345 to speak with an American Cancer Society specialist who can help you plan to quit, offer relapse prevention or help you find a local support group. Quitline counselors also use mental imagery to help smokers imagine their trigger-situation, and picture themselves handling the situation without a cigarette, says Dawn Wiatrek, Quitline director.
To find out if your state operates a quitline, call the North American Quitline Consortium at (800) 784-8669.
Keep trying. Make up your mind to join the 46.5 million Americans who have quit smoking for good, and stay determined. “Smoking cessation is a very difficult process,” says Dr. Norman J. Edelman, chief medical officer at the American Lung Association. “Most people have to try several times before they quit.”
Amy Eskind is a writer in Nashville, Tenn.
first appeared: 9/2/2007
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9/6/07 10:58 AM
My name is Don W. Soderstrom. My wife, Jackie, and I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I would like to add a few comments regarding the article in your publication, dated September 2 - 8, 2007, by Amy Eskind, a writer from Nashville, Tenn., entitled, "Tips To Stop Smoking."
Even though I agree with the majority of what was written in the article, there are a few things I would like to add to help those who are wanting to quit smoking be able to quit.
I am a professional quitter, to say the least. I tried to quit smoking between 20 and 25 times. I tried virtually everything there is on the market. I tried the patch. I tried the pill. I tried chewing gum. I even tried hypnosis. I was finally able to quit smoking on the moring of Janaury 11, 2002, "Cold Turkey", after having smoked for a little over 42 1/2 years, the last twenty-five I was up to smoking between 3 1/2 and 4 packs of cigarettes a day and sometimes, depending upon the circumstances as many as 5 packs a day.
I was a NICOTINE ADDICT!
Unfortunately, quitting was too late. On Sunday morning, February 17, 2002, I woke up and was coughing so hard I could hardly breath. I thought it was nothing more than a cold and ask my beautiful wife to take me to the store to buy some cough syrup. Instead, she took me straight to the Emergency Room at our local VA Hospital. My oxygen SATS had droped to around 69 and it took the emergency room personnel about 8 hours to get me back to where I was able to breath somewhat normal again. Well, ever since that day I have been on oxygen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I also have a lot of other medications and breathing aids to help me continue to breath. I originally started out on 2L per minute and am now up to 6L per minute.
Now, back to why I wanted to make a few comments on the article of Tips To Quit Smoking.
After spending the majority of February and March of 2002 in and out of the hospital; I and my wife talked about what smoking had done to me, our family and friends. And, our social lives as well.
Well, my wife and I have been going around to the Elementary Schools, Mid-Schools, and High Schools in the area where we live doing Smoking Prevention Talks with the youth. I also spent 3 1/2 years as a volunteer with the Smoking Cessation Classes at our VA Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Additionally, I also conducted 8 Freedom From Smoking Classes for our local American Lung Association and 2 Freedom From Smoking Classes for our local YWCA. I also on a very limited part-time basis conducted Smoking Cessation Classes for the Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless in 2006.
What I am leading up to is this. For all those smoker's who are wanting to quit, here are some additional tips that will most definitely help you achieve that goal.
First, you have to make up your mind that you want to quit smoking for yourself and not for anyone else or for any other reason. Until you finally decide that you are sick and tired of lighting up that Sickeratte and breathing in all those chemcials into your body, the chances of you relapsing and going back to smoking are in your favor. Once you have finally decided that you want to quit smoking for you and no one else or for any other reason, you have just taken that first stop to achievin your goal.
Second, like Amy Eskind said in her article, Pick a Date. If you smoke a pack or more a day, go out about 2 - 3 weeks from the day you told yourself you want to quit smoking. Circle that date on your calendar at work and at home. Also put a calendar in your car to help remind you of your quit date. On the evening before your quit date, take the rest of your cigarettes and crumple them up. Don't just throw your pack in the garbage with all the cigarettes you had left in the pack. Take them out and tear them up into small tiny pieces. Take all your cigarette lighters and ash trays and cigarettes, put them into a plastic garbage bag and walk them out to the garbage and throw them away.
Third: Between the day you decided you want to quit smoking and your quit day, start cutting back on the amount of cigarettes you smoke every day. Every time you feel that urge to light up, wait for 10 - 15 minutes. Go do something else, go for a short walk, talk with a friend, and drink lots and lots and lots of water. Over time, the triggers that cause you to light up with start to diminish and those urges to light up with start to fade away.
Fourth: AND THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP I CAN CONVEY TO YOU. Please do not tell your family, friends, co-workers, or anyone that you are GOING TO QUIT SMOKING! Think about this for a minute. If you tell everyone you are going to quit smoking and a month or two or three later someone sees you lighting up a cigarette, what do you think they will say to you? They more than likely will put you down and make fun of you. INSTEAD, TELL EVERYONE THAT YOU ARE GOING TO TRY TO QUIT SMOKING AND THAT YOU WOULD SINCERELY APPRECIATE THEIR HELP. TELL THEM TO PLEASE NOT GIVE YOU A CIGARETTE IF YOU ASK FOR ONE. Then, if you have a relapse, even the heavy smoker's will support your efforts to try and quit again. Believe me, I have confirmed this by talking with hundreds of people who have done exactly this.
And, in closing, I whole heartedly agree with Amy Eskind when she states, "celebrate success." Take all the money you would have spent on buying cigarettes, lighters, the gas it would cost you to run to the store to buy a pack when you are about out and put all that money in a big jar. At the end of the first month, treat yourself to an evening out for a nice dinner. Take your spouse, husband, girl friend or boy friend and enjoy an evening of being able to break that terrible addiction to nicotine.
I call my self a Smoke-A-Holic. Like an Alcoholic, I take it one day at a time. There is nothing I can do about yesterday, as it is over and gone. There is nothing I can do about tomorrow, next week or next month - except to make plans of course. However, tomorrow hasn't come yet, so there is nothing I can do about it until it arrives. However, I can take control of my body TODAY. I haven't smoked a cigarette in over 5 1/2 years now. Are there times I still crave a cigarette? Absolutely. That is why I take it one day at a time. Everytime I feel that urge to light up again, I immediately start thinking of something else. I pick up a good book and start reading. I also drink more water than I ever used to before I finally managed to quit smoking.
As a professional quitter, I would be honored to help those who want to give up that nasty habit. You can E-mail me and we can exchange information and ideas on how you can finally snuff out that cigarette for the last time and begin to lead a smoke free life. My E-mail address is:
avoidcourt@aol.com
1/8/08 10:08 PM
Hi Smokers,
The key to quit smoking is RESEARCHING yourself. Just try to quit everyday and dont give up trying, you'll succeed.
You CAN stop smoking and the key is hidden in you... maybe you should dig very deep... but it's there.
http://smokerness.comBest regards,
Nenad
3/19/08 12:51 AM
I was a pack and a half a day smoker and quit smoking in one 30-minute treatment with laser therapy. I went to a company called Freedom Laser Therapy that provides a pain free low-level laser procedure which helps alleviate nicotine withdrawal symptoms. The staff at Freedom Laser Therapy is dedicated and passionate about helping smokers end their nicotine addiction.
I would really recommend laser therapy to help you quit smoking. Go to their locations page to find a Freedom Laser Therapy clinic or a local quit smoking laser therapy practionioner in your area.
http://www.freedomlasertherapy.com
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